My parents bought me a pair of PAs back in the mid 1960s, before I reached my teens. We were living in Fontainebleau (France) at the time.
My PAs where the red ones, the second generation PAs (the first generation PAs were blue and white, the caracteristic blue of the later EBs). One definitely needed such rubber soles, for instance on the 'Angle Allain' at Cuvier Rempart, one of Pierre Allain's classic problems in Fontainebleau.

The great John Turner wore PAs that he bought directly from Pierre at his shop in Paris back in the 1950s. John was flirting with 5.10 on this side of the pond and quality footwear certainly contributed to his success.